Minneapolis ? Considering the circumstances, Eric Milton was in no position to take a team lightly, even the lowly Detroit Tigers.

“It doesn’t matter how many losses they have,” Milton said. “I didn’t have a win this year coming into this game.”

Milton changed that by winning a regular-season game for the first time in more than a year and the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins posted their seventh straight victory, beating the Tigers, 6-2, Friday night.

The Twins cut their magic number to six over Chicago. The White Sox beat Kansas City and stayed 3 1/2 games behind.

Detroit lost its seventh in a row. The Tigers (38-115) need at least five wins in their last nine games to avoid matching the modern era record of 120 losses by the 1962 New York Mets.

Milton (1-0), making his second start of the year after missing five months with a knee injury, was dominant in earning his first regular-season win since Aug. 1, 2002.

He allowed just two hits and walked none in seven shutout innings. Last year, he beat Oakland in Game 4 in the first round of the playoffs.

Friday night, he’d only thrown 77 pitches through seven innings, but the Twins resisted the temptation to let him continue.

“I could have just kept letting him go out there, but my pitching coach has a little more sense than I do,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He looks like he’s in complete command out there. It looks effortless. It doesn’t even look like he’s sweating out there.”

Minnesota's Eric Milton delivers against Detroit. Milton allowed two hits in seven shutout innings, and the Twins defeated the Tigers, 6-2, Friday night in Minneapolis.

Milton has pitched 12 innings without a walk since his return.

“What’s fun is watching Milty now; he’s pitching,” Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “In the past when he was (throwing) 93-94-95 (mph), he’d sometimes turn into a thrower. But you watch him now and he’s locating, changing speeds — he’s a complete pitcher.”

Rookie Jeremy Bonderman (6-19) was tagged for 10 hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings. He lost in his first start since being pulled from the rotation after a loss Aug. 28.

With one more defeat, Bonderman would join Mike Maroth as the first teammates to lose 20 games in a season since Stan Bahnsen and Wilbur Wood with the 1973 Chicago White Sox.

“I don’t want to come out (of the rotation),” Bonderman said. “I don’t care what happens, I just want to play.”

Milton left the game with a 5-0 lead, but the Tigers broke through for two runs in the eighth off reliever Jesse Orosco.

Mariners 6, Athletics 1

Oakland, Calif. — Edgar Martinez had four hits, and John Olerud hit a two-run homer as Seattle defeated Oakland. Oakland’s magic number to win the AL West remained at five. Any combination of A’s wins and Mariners losses that equal five would give Oakland its second straight division title.

The Mariners, who had lost three of four, beat Tim Hudson and remained 2 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card race after the Red Sox won 2-0 at Cleveland. Ryan Franklin (10-13) pitched eight solid innings for his first win in six starts.

Red Sox 2, Indians 0

Cleveland — John Burkett pitched into the eighth inning, Nomar Garciaparra homered, and Boston defeated Cleveland. Burkett (11-8) allowed just three hits in seven-plus innings and was helped by three double plays as Boston moved 27 games over .500 for the first time since 1995. Todd Jones relieved Burkett with two runners on and none out in the eighth and retired three in a row. Byung-Hyun Kim got two outs in the ninth, then hit two batters on consecutive pitches.

Alan Embree came in and retired Ben Broussard for his first save since July 2, 2002, when he got two in a doubleheader against Toronto.

Blue Jays 5, Orioles 2

Baltimore — Vernon Wells went 4-for-4, and Carlos Delgado drove in two runs to back a solid pitching effort by Kelvim Escobar as Toronto beat Baltimore. Needing a home run for the cycle, Wells singled in a three-run eighth that gave the Blue Jays their fourth straight victory and clinched third place in the AL East for a sixth straight season.

Larry Bigbie homered for the Orioles, who have lost seven of 10.

Wells’ four hits increased his league-leading hit total to 207, and the two RBIs upped Delgado’s total to an AL-best 130.

Making his 300th career appearance and 100th start, Escobar (12-9) allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings.

Yankees 2, Devil Rays 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Alfonso Soriano tied a major-league record with his 12th leadoff homer of the season, sending Jose Contreras and New York past Tampa Bay. The Yankees won for the 11th time in 13 games and reduced the magic number for clinching their sixth straight AL East title to five.

Soriano hit his 33rd homer, connecting against Doug Waechter (3-1) on the third pitch of the game. Soriano matched the single-season mark for leadoff homers set by Baltimore’s Brady Anderson in 1996.

It was the 20th leadoff homer of Soriano’s career and extended New York’s major-league mark for leadoff homers in a season to 14.

Rangers 3, Angels 2

Arlington, Texas — Mark Teixeira drove in two runs, and Michael Young had three hits as Texas beat Anaheim. Rangers starter R.A. Dickey (9-8) allowed one run and five hits over six innings. Dickey struck out six and walked one, sending the Angels to their eighth defeat in 10 games.

Francisco Cordero got three straight outs for his 15th save in 24 chances. Texas had lost six of its previous nine games.

The Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the third against John Lackey (9-16) on Alex Rodriguez’s RBI single and Teixeira’s two-run single. Lackey threw 49 pitches in the inning, and Texas left the bases loaded.